Diplomacy & Crisis News

In an earlier age, the Democratic and Republican front-runners reserved their sharpest criticism for the Soviet Union and treated each other with respect.

With strong leadership and comprehensive strategies it’s never too late for countries to change the trendlines of the COVID-19 pandemic, despite passing the tragic milestone of one million deaths this week amid regional surges in infections, said the head of the World Health Organization (WHO) on Friday.

Trump is far from the first world leader to face the political implications of his own positive COVID-19 test. What happens next?

The UN human rights office OHCHR, called on Friday for urgent action to address the “unimaginable horrors” faced by migrants attempting to cross the central Mediterranean Sea in search of safety in Europe.

Authorities are struggling as protesters break anti-monarchy taboos.

A wave of insurgent Islamism arrived in the West 20 years ago—and disappeared just as quickly.

New Delhi has a long history of harassing international NGOs. But under Modi, things may reach a tipping point.

The technology to build new green economies is mostly produced in China. That’s bad for the United States.

Officials are warily watching for adversaries like Russia, Iran, and North Korea to exploit the moment.

The elimination of nuclear weapons is vital to the “survival of life on this planet”, the UN chief told the final major event of the General Assembly’s high level week on Friday.  

Thatcher and Mitterrand nearly stopped it from happening, but 30 years on, reunification remains the world’s most successful geopolitical experiment.

UN-appointed independent rights experts have urged the Iraqi authorities to investigate the murder of a female human rights defender, and the attempted killing of another, targeted “simply because they are women”.

Ethen Kim Lieser

Technology,

Does it provide the right features at the right price? 

If you have a strong desire to dip your toes into the waters of Samsung’s QLED HDTV offerings, the 65-inch Q70R Series would be a great place to start.

Sporting a reasonable price tag of $1,600, know that the Q70R is much cheaper than its OLED TV rivals—which can easily dig deep into the $2K to $4K range. Despite the smaller investment, you can be rest assured that you’ll still be getting the second-best panel on the planet.

With this particular model, you’re on the receiving end of outstanding overall image quality with plenty-deep black levels. The high light output—a major strength of QLEDs—and next-generation full-array local dimming also work wonderfully well, so you’ll surely enjoy the lively and accurate colors.

You’ll also be blessed with a true 120Hz panel, which does improve the TV’s overall motion performance, and know that it fully supports HDR content in HLG and HDR10+ formats. The set’s robust video processing is known to be a welcome boon for hardcore gamers and lovers of intense action films.

Other reviewers had a similar take. “With a 120Hz refresh rate and software features to reduce motion blur and optimize the smallest of details (dew flying off a football, for example), and an approachable price tag, the Samsung Q70R is the perfect TV to catch up on all your favorite sports action,” Digital Trends recently wrote.

“It’s one of the best in its class, and the QLED screen with its higher brightness potential brings to life scenes brimming with natural light, like baseball, football, and soccer.”

Be aware that wide-angle viewing falls a bit short of the Q80 Series model, so if you have wider or wraparound seating arrangements, make sure to take note of that. And if you find yourself often watching TV during the daytime or in a bright room, the Q70R really does an honorable job of masking those annoying glares and reflections.

For the Q70R and many other QLED models, Samsung employs its own built-in digital assistant Bixby—but many users have shared their frustrations with this feature.

It, unfortunately, doesn’t come close to the skills of Google Assistant or Amazon Alexa, which can often be found on rivals from LG to Sony. Keep in mind that the 2019 and later versions, though, will be able to respond to voice commands issued via Alexa and Google Assistant smart speakers.

The set also comes with the ultra-cool Ambient Mode, enabling you to display a digital photo that matches the wall behind the panel.

The design of the Q70R Series can be described as classic Samsung. The panel is as thin as you can get for a QLED TV right now and it does exude a slick and refined look.

Ethen Kim Lieser is a Minneapolis-based Science and Tech Editor who has held posts at Google, The Korea Herald, Lincoln Journal Star, AsianWeek and Arirang TV. Follow or contact him on LinkedIn.

Image: Samsung. 

Kris Osborn

Security,

A new upgrade means that the battle-tested drone just got more deadly.

The U.S. Air Force MQ-9A Reaper drone is getting nearly double the amount of firepower, due to a new software upgrade that enables the aircraft to carry eight Hellfire missiles instead of four. 

The Reaper flew with eight live AGM-114 Hellfire missiles September 10 as part of what the service calls the drone’s “persistent attack” role. More weapons, coupled with longer-range, higher-fidelity sensors and improved fuel tanks naturally increases dwell time over enemy targets, an ability to re-task to new targets as intelligence emerges and of course put more effects on target when needed. 

The added weapons are part of an Air Force software upgrade program called the MQ-9 Operational Flight Program 2409. 

“Previous to this software, the MQ-9 was limited to four AGM-114s across two stations. The new software allows flexibility to load the Hellfire on stations that previously were reserved for 500-pound class bombs or fuel tanks,” an Air Force report states. 

The Reaper can still be armed with 500-pound bombs on any of the stations as well, so the platform will retain its attack flexibility, depending upon mission requirements. 

The Reaper will now fire the AIM-9X in addition to the AGM-114 Hellfire missile, a 500-pound laser-guided weapon called the GBU-12 Paveway II, and GBU-38 Joint Direct Attack Munitions or JDAMs. These are free-fall bombs engineered with a GPS and Inertial Navigation Systems guidance kit.

This added Hellfire attack possibility introduces several new tactical possibilities and, one could certainly observe, helps transition the platform into a modern warfare posture in an area of great power competition. Certainly in a large-scale mechanized warfare scenario, additional tank-killing Hellfire missile attack options could prove tactically useful.

During the last fifteen years of war in Iraq and Afghanistan, the Reaper operated with great success conducting precision-drone strikes against terrorists and other high-value targets. 

Now the Air Force seems to be working toward further transitioning the combat-tested drone into preparations for great power warfare. This appears to be a sensible next step along an evolving trajectory for the drone through which the Air Force has consistently added new weapons and expanded mission scope for the aircraft. 

The move to fire an AIM-9X is significant as well, given that it adds additional possibilities for major power warfare, such as air-to-air combat. Earlier this year, the MQ-9 Reaper successfully destroyed a drone cruise missile target with the well-known and highly effective AIM-9X precision air-to-air missile. The AIM-9X fires from the F-35 and F-22 stealth fighter jets and has in recent years been upgraded with improved precision-guidance technologies. Other upgrades also include “off boresight” targeting, enabling pilots to destroy enemy targets behind the aircraft. This is quite significant, as “off-boresight” technology can actually guide the AIM -9X to turn around and change course while in-flight using a pilot’s helmet-mounted cueing system. This massively expands the Reaper’s target envelope. 

Engineering a Reaper for air-to-air combat missions does seem to represent a sensible and technically advanced evolution of the platform, greatly expanding its mission purview. Armed with an AIM-9X, a Reaper can perform new offensive or defensive operations by virtue of using the missile as an “interceptor” stopping approaching enemy cruise missiles or an offensive attack against enemy aircraft. 

Kris Osborn is defense editor for the National Interest. Osborn previously served at the Pentagon as a Highly Qualified Expert with the Office of the Assistant Secretary of the Army—Acquisition, Logistics & Technology. Osborn has also worked as an anchor and on-air military specialist at national TV networks. He has appeared as a guest military expert on Fox News, MSNBC, The Military Channel, and The History Channel. He also has a Masters Degree in Comparative Literature from Columbia University.

Image: Reuters

Current military-civil administration in eastern Ukrainian frontline districts need to be kept in place and partially reformed. Should the Donets Basin return to Ukrainian control, they could provide institutional templates for a temporary special regime within the currently occupied territories.

On October 25th this year, Ukraine will hold its first nation-wide local and regional elections following the completion of the first stage of decentralisation reforms that began in April 2014. This year’s vote will thus have deeper political impact than similar elections in the past. This is especially true with regard to local parliamentarians and village elders elected in October as part of the newly amalgamated territorial communities (ATCs) who will be responsible for a whole new set of tasks. The upcoming local and regional elections constitute a significant step for Ukraine’s ongoing democratisation, reform and Europeanisation.

Elections are inconceivable, however, in the Russian occupied territories of the Donets Basin (Donbas). Contrary to plans in Moscow and also to the ideas of some unsuspecting Western politicians, Ukraine should not conduct elections in an area over which it currently does not have full sovereignty. After five years of intense discussion, one can still find interpretations of the 2014-2015 Minsk Agreements suggesting that Kyiv hold elections on territories not yet under its control. In the best case, such demands are naive. In the worst case, they betray their proponents’ limited commitment to such principles as national sovereignty, the rule of law and liberal democracy. The control of a territory by one (and only one!) national government comes before elections and decentralisation. Securing local democracy and self-government for Ukraine’s occupied territories can only become a matter of practical implementation after the question regarding sovereign state control has been comprehensively resolved.

The instrument of provisional military-civilian rule

Yet what about local elections in the government-controlled areas of the Luhansk and Donetsk oblasts? What especially about those rayons, cities, and territorial communities that are in the immediate vicinity of the so-called “contact line”? Should elections be held along the artificial border created by the conflict?

Since 2015, the Donetsk and Luhansk oblasts, as well as most frontline settlements, have not been self-governed. Instead, they have been ruled by temporary so-called military-civil administration (MCAs). The key staff of the MCAs are directly appointed by Kyiv. They are subordinate to the Commander of Ukraine’s Joint Forces Operation (JFO) in the Donbas. Before officially enshrining MCAs in Ukrainian law, Petro Poroshenko argued in January 2015 that: “This will allow today to resolve the issue of the absence of power in the liberated territories from where in fact all the elected deputies of local councils who held separatist positions, committed crimes, and are hiding from justice have fled.”

Initially, the February 2015 Law “On Military-Civilian Administrations” was supposed to expire after one year. Yet, it has since been repeatedly prolonged and amended to meet changing circumstances. The number of municipal and sub-regional MCAs on the local and rayon levels has gradually increased. The MCAs hold all ordinary legislative and executive responsibilities, alongside some emergency powers, in the respective districts and settlements. Consequently, they have largely abolished local self-government and political life in these territories. The MCAs represent specific municipal or regional ‘hybrid regimes’, which merge the characteristics of ordinary centralised rule with elements of martial law. However, they do not yet constitute a full state of emergency.

The peculiar instrument of military-civil administration was and arguably still is a necessary intermediate solution to the immense problems in the territories. Classical local self-government is unsuitable in active or potential combat zones of low-intensity conflicts. Given the grave conditions of conflict-related political instability and economic deprivation in the area, the MCAs are an appropriate instrument to secure elementary order and to prevent Russian subversion across the contact line. Nevertheless, there is currently an intense debate within Ukraine regarding local elections in government-controlled areas of the Luhansk and Donetsk oblasts that are situated close to the so-called contact line separating Ukrainian and Russian-led forces. This was caused by the decision of the Central Electoral Commission to not conduct elections in 18 of these communities and to leave military-civilian administration in place there.

The MCAs clearly contradict Ukraine’s far-reaching decentralisation reforms since 2014. As Konstantin Reutski and Ioulia Shukan noted in one of the first papers on this topic: “In the absence of an elected representative body, collective decision-making and separation of legislative and executive functions, checks and balances are weak. The MCA heads exercise personal control over their administrations (Article 6 [of the law ‘On MCAs’]): they hire and fire MCA employees, oversee the entire operation and are personally responsible for all areas of the MCA’s performance. In addition to this, they are the sole managers of the MCA’s budget. The law on military-civil administrations does not require any community boards to be established in association with the MCAs, and this lack of external supervision further increases the personal power vested in the MCA head and removes all barriers to autocratic governance.”

The necessity of continued military-civilian rule

Under peaceful conditions, the October 2020 local and regional elections would have been a key opportunity to replace the MCAs with properly elected councils, elders and mayors. This is all the more so given their enlarged responsibilities within the newly established ATCs. However, holding elections in the frontline districts seems, for three reasons, premature. First, meaningful elections are technically difficult to conduct in settlements close to the so-called contact line. Many of the inhabitants of these villages and towns have temporarily left their homes and moved to other parts of Ukraine out of fear or/and desperation. It would be difficult to involve such internally displaced persons within these elections concerning their native communities. Moreover, the physical, social and human infrastructure of the frontline regions has been deeply damaged by the war. These and other special circumstances make normal electoral campaigns and legitimate voting processes in the frontline settlements a considerable challenge. 

Second, the currently MCA-ruled regions and settlements are key targets for Russian infiltration and manipulation operations. Television and radio channels belonging to Russia and its two puppet states, the so-called Donetsk and Luhansk “people’s republics,” dominate mass media along the contact line. If Moscow has managed to interfere in voting process in France, Great Britain and the United States, then it is surely able and willing to try the same in Russian-speaking villages and towns located only a few miles away from its proxy troops and sattelite regimes in Donbas.

Thirdly and perhaps most importantly, questions still remain as to what newly elected bodies would be actually doing in many, if not most, of these towns and villages. Local self-government involves above all the collection and distribution of taxes and revenues within the community. Classical municipal administrations are also responsible for attracting domestic and foreign investment to their respective towns and territories. Yet, since spring 2014, these tasks have, as a result of the war, often become irrelevant to different degrees or even absent in settlements along the contact line. Normal economic, social, cultural and political life will likely remain greatly reduced in the frontline districts, for the time being.

Instead, the prevalent concerns along the contact line, from Stanytsa Luhanska in the north to Mariupol in the south, continue to involve issues of security and military affairs. Many of the frontline districts have checkpoints, whose functioning determines local economic life. Control over checkpoints is exercised by Kyiv, on the government-controlled side, and Russian proxy authorities in Luhansk and Donetsk on the occupied side. Local executives in frontline settlements are focused on how to best use scarce government subsidies to solve various competing infrastructure problems. These include the supply of electricity, water, heat and medicine, as well as the organisation of care for children, pensioners and the sick. There are also persisting issues with repairs to damaged residential houses and public buildings. In fact, some of these tasks have now been partially taken over by foreign organisations such as the International Red Cross, Norwegian Refugee Council, and “Doctors without Borders.” Under these circumstances, it is unclear what local self-government would actually mean along the frontline.

Instead of conducting risky and inconclusive local elections in the JFO area, Ukraine should maintain the MCAs as long as and where they are necessary. Kyiv should also introduce new legislation that would improve the functioning of these bodies. It may perhaps be even necessary to amend the Ukrainian constitution so as to legally embed these special intermediary local regimes. Currently, the MCAs are neither fully constitutional nor set up in a way so as to function over a longer period of time.

How to bring the MCAs closer to the people

Instead of conducting elections under uncertain circumstances, the current special regime has to be improved so as to set up alternative feedback mechanisms between the MCAs and local communities. MCA heads are often already in close contact with state-run institutions, such as hospitals and schools. Simultaneously, many also regularly interact with local NGOs, businesses, parties and media outlets. These relationships should be formalised through the creation of permanent advisory councils that are attached to the MCAs. The MCAs’ heads could be, by amending the law, forced to consider the opinion of these councils, which could be filled with NGO, business, party and media representatives. The authorities could be legally obliged to seek the advice of these councils in all decisions concerning municipal matters such as housing, transportation, education, public health, etc. (and less so with regard to security and military issues).

The Ukrainian government, civil society and their foreign partners should do more to support local conditions in Donbas, which have been weakened by the post-Euromaidan war and crisis more than any other region of Ukraine (except for Crimea). The improvement of administrative structures in the conflict-affected areas has a security-political dimension that goes beyond the usual demands of good governance. Particular attention needs to be paid to the development of new regional political and administrative elites. These groups could take over various leadership roles at municipal, rayon and regional levels in the Luhansk and Donetsk oblasts, following their return to Ukrainian control.

Arguably, it may make sense to include local communities, in one way or another, in the process of choosing appropriate candidates for the staffing of the MCAs. It could be also useful to set up an official complaint procedure through which local civic organisations, business groups, media outlets and political parties could report any misconduct by MCA representatives to the JFO headquarters. These complaints may concern cases of bribe-taking, nepotism or arbitrariness by MCA heads and staff members. While such changes would still not represent properly democratic and decentralised rule, it may be the only way to establish a sustainable regime in the region as long as the war continues.

The MCAs as templates for transitional rule in the occupied territories

Last but not least, these hybrid regimes could provide a model for responding to other emergency situations in the future. Above all, the MCAs could provide a template for how to govern the currently occupied territories of Donbas during a potential transition period between their liberation from Russian occupation, and eventually full participation in Ukraine’s general decentralised rule of local communities. The MCAs as a provisional model will be especially useful should the occupied territories not be temporarily controlled by an international UN peacekeeping operation, following a possible Russian withdrawal.

In such a scenario, Kyiv will need to first create an emergency regime in the territories of the former so-called “People’s Republics” in order to properly and peacefully demilitarize them, and to re-ukrainianize these areas’ economies, polities and societies, with the help of MCAs. The amalgamation of small municipal communities and local elections to newly defined organs of self-government will only make sense after the territories’ full re-integration into Ukraine. At that point, the currently occupied territories will become full parts of the decentralised Ukrainian state.

Should Ukraine conduct local elections along the Donbas contact line?

Rachel Bucchino

Security, Americas

The president has repeatedly downplayed the severity of the coronavirus since the start of the pandemic, as he’s said it was “going to disappear” and that it was “rounding the corner,” despite it infecting more than 7.2 million Americans. 

President Donald Trump and first lady Melania Trump have tested positive for the coronavirus, pushing the nation into another period of uncertainty in terms of the country’s leadership, as the virus’s death toll outstrips 208,000 people and millions remain sickened from the deadly disease. 

President Trump, seventy-four, was diagnosed after a suspenseful evening when a close aide to the president, Hope Hicks, tested positive Thursday morning. Hicks is among Trump’s closest staffers to have contracted the virus. The two of them had been aboard Air Force One and Marine One this week together and attended a campaign rally in Minnesota on Wednesday. The president took to Twitter to break the news, assuring the nation that the first couple “will get through this.” 

“Tonight, @FLOTUS and I tested positive for COVID-19,” Trump tweeted, “We will begin our quarantine and recovery process immediately. We will get through this TOGETHER!”

Just moments later, White House physician Dr. Sean Conley released a statement, noting that Trump and the first lady “are both well at this time, and they plan to remain at home within the White House during their convalescence." 

“The White House medical team and I will maintain a vigilant watch, and I appreciate the support provided by some of our country’s greatest medical professionals and institutions. Rest assured I expect the President to continue carrying out his duties without disruption while recovering, and I will keep you updated on any future developments," Conley added. 

The first lady also added to the Twitter feed and echoed the president’s remarks, saying “we are feeling good.” Melania reported that like “too many” other Americans, she and her husband would quarantine for the proper amount of time, forcing her to postpone “all upcoming engagements.” 

Both Trump and Melania have come into close contact with dozens of people on the campaign trail, considering there are only thirty-two days until Election Day. The news comes after he told an audience Thursday night that “the end of the pandemic is in sight.” The president and his entourage also flew to New Jersey for a fundraiser at his gold club in Bedminster on Thursday after hearing of Hicks’s diagnosis, where he came into close contact with a number of other people, including campaign supporters. Officials close to Trump told The Washington Post that the president did not wear a mask at the event. 

The New York Times reported that Trump is experiencing mild, cold-like symptoms Friday morning, but it’s unclear how far the infection has spread among the White House team. Vice President Mike Pence and second lady Karen Pence tested negative for the coronavirus on Friday, hours after news surfaced about the first couple. Pence’s press secretary Devin O’Malley took to Twitter to make the formal announcement, noting that the vice-president “wishes the Trumps well in their recovery.” 

In the meantime, aides will continue to be tested and contacts traced for the virus, with the heavy encouragement to remain home in quarantine. All presidential and political travel will be temporarily canceled, according to The Washington Post, which will impose enormous pressure on Trump’s campaign trail during the last four weeks heading into the election.  

Although he appears to be mildly symptomatic, the president will miss crucial time on his campaign trail against Democratic nominee Joe Biden. The White House did not indicate how long the first couple will remain contained, but it did cancel his in-person events for Friday in Florida, leaving the only measure on his public schedule a telephone call about “Covid-19 support to vulnerable seniors.” Other events for the weekend in key battleground states have also been squashed, posing a threat to his re-election chances in an already competitive race to the White House. The president has repeatedly downplayed the severity of the coronavirus since the start of the pandemic, as he’s said it was “going to disappear” and that it was “rounding the corner,” despite it infecting more than 7.2 million Americans.  

Trump also mocked Biden at the first presidential debate for wearing a mask. The president has been known to question the effectiveness of masks and placed distrust in public health experts in combating the virus. “I don’t wear masks like him,” he said, referring to his political opponent. “Every time you see him, he’s got a mask.” It’s unclear if Biden has been infected by the coronavirus after coming into contact with the president Tuesday night. 

The White House did not provide any statement regarding the next presidential debate on Oct. 15.  

If Trump does appear to be severely symptomatic, considering he places in several high-risk categories for the virus, questions will arise if he should still plea for a second term in the White House. 

According to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, adults between the ages of sixty-five and seventy-four experience ninety times greater risk of death from the coronavirus compared to adults between the ages of eighteen and twenty-nine. The president is also clinically overweight, which is another factor that boosts the risk of the severity of the virus. 

It is unknown if Trump assumes any other health conditions that could place him in a high-risk group, but past physicals indicate a growing heart disease. 

His most recent physical with Conley said “there were no findings of significance or changes to report,” as there were no signs of cancer, kidney disease, diabetes or other severe conditions. The physician did report, however, that his blood pressure was somewhat elevated. 

Two years ago, Trump’s physical indicated that his coronary calcium CT scan score was 133, according to CNN. Anything in-between one hundred and three hundred “means moderate plaque deposits,” correlating with the threat of a heart attack or other form of heart disease within the next three to five years. In 2009, the president’s score was thirty-four and in 2013, it was ninety-eight, suggesting there’s been a build-up of plaque for a number of years. 

Another area of concern was Trump’s cholesterol levels and his LDL, of “bad cholesterol,” as the figures both jumped in 2017 and 2018, with the president taking the statin drug that serves to lower cholesterol, called Crestor. 

Trump and the first lady join the millions of people who have contracted the coronavirus in the United States, throwing the country in the lead for the number of reported cases. 

Rachel Bucchino is a reporter at the National Interest. Her work has appeared in The Washington Post, U.S. News & World Report and The Hill. 

Image: Reuters

Peter Suciu

History,

She was old by the time World War II was waged, but she made some serious history. 

If World War II had come a decade earlier it might have been the Martin B-10 rather than the Boeing B-17 Flying Fortress and Consolidated B-24 Liberator that might have been the workhorse of the U.S. Army Air Corps (USAAC). The aircraft was developed in the early 1930s but was largely antiquated by the time the war came – yet, the B-10 started a revolution in bomber design.

The plane began as a private venture in early 1932 at the Glenn L. Martin Company as the Model 123. It was not bound to any military specification and that gave the engineers at Martin free rein in the aircraft's development, and the focus was on maximum performance over other considerations for a military bomber. It was powered by two 750hp Wright R-1820-E Cyclone engines, which gave it a top speed of 207 mph, more than 22 mph faster than its competition of the era.

The plane was also the first all-metal monoplane and first all-metal bomber, and it featured many innovations including retractable landing gear, an enclosed rotating turret for defense and enclosed cockpits. In trials it was found that the aircraft would carry a bomb load of 2,200 pounds over a distance of 650 miles and at a maxim speed of 197mph. It also had a ceiling of 6,000 feet, which was higher than contemporary fighters.

Military planners saw that the bomber could successfully attack strategic targets without long-range fighter escort.

The Army immediately ordered 14 of the aircraft, but eventually, a total of 121 B-10s were ordered from 1933 to 1936, the largest procurement of bomber aircraft by any nation since the First World War. Another 32 were ordered with 700hp Pratt & Whitney R-1690 Hornet engines and designated as the B-12.

Notable Achievements

The B-10 was awarded 1932's Collier Trophy for outstanding achievement in American aviation and the trophy was presented to Martin by President Franklin Roosevelt shortly after he took office in 1933. That would be the first of six times that Martin received the prestigious award.

Military aviation pioneer General Henry H. "Hap" Arnold called the Martin bomber "the air power wonder of its day," and he led 10 B-10s  on a 8,290-mile flight from Washington, D.C. to Fairbanks, Alaska and back in 1934.

Even as the B-17s and B-18 Bolos began to replace the Air Corps' B-10s/B-12s, the plane was exported to the Chinese and Dutch air forces, and it was used in combat against Imperial Japanese forces – and actually saw its baptism of fire during the Sino-Japanese War in May 1938. The Martin B-10 was also used by the Royal Netherlands East Indies Army (Koninklijk Nederlands Indisch Leger or KNIL) in the Defense of the Dutch Indies in late 1941 and early 1942.

While a total of 348 of all variants including 182 export versions were produced in total, there is only one complete B-10 in the world today. It is in the collection of the National Museum of the United States Air Force and was actually found in Argentina, where it was used by engineering students at the "Jorge Newberry" National School of Technical Education, No. 1 in Buenos Aires. As a gesture of friendship the Argentine Navy donated the aircraft to the museum in August 1970.

Peter Suciu is a Michigan-based writer who has contributed to more than four dozen magazines, newspapers and websites. He is the author of several books on military headgear including A Gallery of Military Headdress, which is available on Amazon.com.

Image: Photo of a Martin B-10 variant of the 23d Bombardment Squadron taken in 1941 over Oahu, Hawaii.

Peter Suciu

Security, Europe

Would they give Moscow any sort of edge in a future conflict? 

The Russian military has been developing its next generation of combat gear and it could be integrated with new micro-drones that provide a tactical level automated command system. Such equipment was designed to enhance each soldier's situational awareness, facilitate the performance during combat missions and even minimize the level of physical effort of individual soldiers while reducing their risk of life.

"One of the current research and development projects, being carried out at the request of the ground forces' command, envisages the creation of a new generation combat gear incorporating elements that enhance the personnel's physical abilities, such as combat and special exoskeletons, and the integration of combat and support robots as well as reconnaissance and attack drones of small and mini-class," explained commander of ground forces, General of the Army Oleg Salyukov, in an interview with the government-published Rossiiskaya Gazeta on Thursday.

Tass reported that Russian defense contractor Rostec was working on a new generation combat gear called Sotnik (Centurian), which would replace the current Ratnik (Warrior) infantry equipment. It is being developed by one of the company's affiliates, the Central Scientific-Research Institute for Precision Machine Engineering TasNIItochMash.

The Russian military has announced plans to have the first batch of Sotnik equipment delivered to special operations troops by 2025 and to the entirety of the Russian military within another five years. It has been suggested that such a timeline could be overly ambitious due to the fact that Sotnik consists of a great deal of high-tech items that may not be ready for combat troops in just a decade.

Some of the equipment already exists, including anti-mine boots and special cloth that could reduce thermal (heat) signatures that identifies troops to thermal sensors – making them essentially invisible to those sensors – while other cloth could reduce radar effectiveness.

The equipment could also be integrated with micro-drone technology, which would be connected with a tactical level automated command system. This could provide images from cameras on the drones that are transmitted and project to a soldier's helmet visor or protective glasses along with commands, maps of the terrain and other crucial information – sort of a "Google Glass" solution for the battlefield.

Tass reported that nothing has been said about plans to integrate attack drones with the new generation of combat gear, but that could be the next step for Russia's soldiers of the future.

Research and development for the new generation of equipment will reportedly last from 2020 to 2023, and the final list of Sotnik items is expected to be completed until at least then, but the equipment has been reported to be about 20% lighter than the current Ratnik equivalents. It is expected that the Sotnik combat gear will consist of new ammunition and firearms.

While this could mark the end of the line for the Ratnik, experiences with it have proved information. The last major upgrade in terms of equipment was earlier this year when the new Russian assault rifle, the AK-12, was finally delivered to regular infantry units.

Peter Suciu is a Michigan-based writer who has contributed to more than four dozen magazines, newspapers and websites. He is the author of several books on military headgear including A Gallery of Military Headdress, which is available on Amazon.com.

Image: Sukhoi Su-35 jet fighters of the Russian Knights aerobatic team perform during International military-technical forum "Army-2020" at Kubinka airbase in Moscow Region August 25, 2020. REUTERS/Maxim Shemetov.

Peter Suciu

Security, Europe

This month the commander-in-chief of Russia's ground forces told state media that its tanks could be armed with far larger caliber guns. Why is that needed? 

While the first batch of T-14 Aramata main battle tanks (MBTs) is set to finally be deployed to the Russian military later this year, it will be years before the nation's older armored vehicles are retired from service. For this reason, the older tanks could soon be deployed with increased firepower.

This month the commander-in-chief of Russia's ground forces told state media that its tanks could be armed with far larger caliber guns.

The current tanks – T-72B3, T-72B3M, T-80BVM and T90M are armed with 125-millimeter guns and can be used to fire different types of ammunition to successfully cope with their tasks," General of the Army Oleg Salyukov told the government-published daily Rossiyskaya Gazeta according to Tass.

"At the same time it is not ruled out the caliber of tank guns may be increased," Salyukov added during his interview on the occasion of Ground Forces Day, a professional holiday established in 2006.

Cold War Weapons Upgraded:

The tanks Salyukov mentioned are older platforms, but still largely feared ones that have been substantially modernized over the years. The T-72B3 version was introduced in 2010, and while it is part of the family of Soviet MBTs that first entered production in 1971, it was considered a third-generation MBT.

The further upgraded T-72B3M, which was first exhibited at the 2014 Tank Biathlon World Championship, provided the Cold War tank with true 21st century capabilities. The layout of the tank is nearly identical to the original T-72, but it features an advanced fire controls system and new thermal sights. The mobility and combat characteristics have been improved to allow the T-72B3M to compete with some of the most advanced tanks in the world today.

Likewise, the T-80BVM is a modernized version of the T-80, and this newest model was first publically revealed only in 2017. Originally, the Russian military had planned to retire its T-80 series tanks by 2015, but instead, the first batch of 31 of the tanks was upgraded to the T-80BVM standard and revealed during a military parade in 2018. Among the improvements is slightly improved Relikt explosive reactive armor protection. However, due to high operational costs, many of the T-80BVM are kept in reserve, according to Military-Today.

The T-80BVM are unlikely to be retired anytime soon as the Cold War-era design works quite well in cold conditions! The turbine engine used in the tanks, which is more expensive to operate and maintain, has the benefit of functioning better in the northern parts of Russia where the temperatures can be very low. While Russian diesel tanks can take around 45 minutes to start at -30 degrees Celsius, gas turbine tanks can be up and running in around one minute. T-80s are also said to be more comfortable and warmer for the crew in such climates than other tanks.

The T-90M, which remains arguably Russia's most advanced front-line tank, is a modernized version of a vehicle that first entered service in 1993. The Russian Army received the first new T-90M tanks as part of a batch of 400 last year.

Clearly, the Russian military has been continuing to keep the tanks up and running with the latest advances, and based on Salyukov's latest statements the next round of upgrades could see these tanks have a bit more hitting power.

Peter Suciu is a Michigan-based writer who has contributed to more than four dozen magazines, newspapers and websites. He is the author of several books on military headgear including A Gallery of Military Headdress, which is available on Amazon.com.

Image: A Russian T-90S tank fires during the "Russia Arms Expo 2013", the 9th international exhibition of arms, military equipment and ammunition in the Urals city of Nizhny Tagil, September 26, 2013. REUTERS/Sergei Karpukhin (RUSSIA - Tags: MILITARY)

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